Video: IRS Head Waited 2 Months to Tell Congress, FBI About Lost Emails

Michael Warren

June 23, 2014 9:28 PM

Republican congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio excoriated the Internal Revenue Service commissioner Monday night in a House hearing looking into the agency's malfeasance regarding conservative non-profit groups. Jordan focused his questioning to when IRS comissioner John Koskinen knew about the loss of critical emails from former official Lois Lerner. Koskinen testified that he discovered a computer hard drive crash lost the Lerner emails in April but did not report this publicly until presenting Congress with a report earlier this month.

Watch the exchange below:

Koskinen says he "did nothing" when he learned of the lost emails, despite the fact that both Congress and the FBI were investigating the abuse by IRS officials, led by Lerner. A visibly irritated Jordan tried to get a straight answer:

JORDAN: Who'd you tell? Did you tell the White House?

KOSKINEN: I never told the White House....

JORDAN: Did you tell anyone at Treasury? Did you tell any of your bosses?

KOSKINEN: I did not tell anyone at Treasury either.

JORDAN: Did you talk to anyone about this?

KOSKINEN: No.

JORDAN: When did you tell Congress?

KOSKINEN: We produced a public report ten days ago.

JORDAN: So you knew in April and you waited two months to tell this body?